Richard Branson announces Virgin iPad magazine

British entrepreneur Richard Branson is set to unveil an electronic magazine targeting the Apple iPad.

The move follows media tycoon Rupert Murdoch giving an indication that News Corp would soon publish an electronic newspaper for the Apple tablet.

The Virgin magazine will include genres such as business, travel, entertainment, design and international culture, making it sound rather like an in-flight magazine.

Virgin described the magazine as a “revolutionary multimedia project” and is expected to launch the publication at an event in New York next week. Virgin will be going up against traditional publishers such as News Corp who are looking to spend big in order to capture a new market of electronic readers in an age when printed circulations continue to decline.

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News Corp’s ‘The Daily’ is expected to operate on the scale of a traditional paper with a staff of around 100 and a launch budget of $30 million.

The Guardian reported that the Virgin project will be more focused upon entertainment rather than the current affairs focus of Murdoch’s upcoming ‘Daily’. The project is being managed by Anthony Noguera who previously edited mainstream British magazines of Zoom, FHM and Arena.